


Black and Red

by Kalloway



Series: Sparklerift [6]
Category: Gundam SEED & Cosmic Era Gundam
Genre: Gen, Gundam 00 Fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 04:04:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18461117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Hawthorne has gotten a Pathfinder's power supply fitted hooked up to Veia's Justice-frame mobile suit. Now, for start-up.With help.





	Black and Red

**Author's Note:**

> For FFFC, May 25, 2018 - "Small great things (Jodi Picoult)"
> 
> quite a ways along in the Sparkleverse~

Hawthorne Pamarti Ahonen pulled her riot of violet curls up into a high ponytail and then grabbed for her tablet. She had messages, mostly from some of the haros she'd been working with, and one from her grandfather wishing her a good day.

It was going to be a good day! Retrofitting a Pathfinder power supply, and a few other parts, into Commander Veia's Justice-type mobile suit had taken far longer than anyone had thought and required some impressive fabrication and modification. Hawthorne had been pleased with herself, her round coworkers, and Aktaeon's facilities in general.

While they'd powered the machine up before Hawthorne declared it time for rest and recharging, Hawthorne hadn't done anything other than make sure the main screens in the cockpit turned on. Karma might've done a little more, even though it tended to flock back to Veia whenever it could.

The other three 'lead' haros on the project didn't have names and Hawthorne wasn't sure exactly what needed to happen in order for them to get names. So they had their serial numbers and their colors and she knew who was who when they messaged her with status updates. Names were something to worry about after Justice was finished and after... Whatever was going on at home...

Hawthorne sighed. It was hard not to think about the PLANTs, but there was literally nothing she could do. What she could do was keep busy and make a place for herself with her new friends.

A blue haro bumped at her thigh and Hawthorne smiled and juggled her tablet so she could pick it up.

"Big day today," she said with a smile. "I have a message from the kinda paler red one that has all the values we're looking for, along with more information than I would have thought possible to get."

"No problem, no problem~"

"It would have taken me a week to run all these values! If I had the starting numbers, which I didn't!"

Hawthorne laughed anyway as she bounded down to where the black, Justice-type mobile suit stood waiting. It looked like someone had finished disconnecting it from external power, but it was still secured in place. Well, they weren't quite ready to try moving it, anyway.

"Hawthorne, Hawthorne, suit up!" Karma was unmistakable near the mobile suit's feet, flapping and bouncing around a...

She let the blue haro go and it fluttered over to Karma.

"Oh hey, is that for me?" There, on a crate, was a black and violet flightsuit.

"For you, for you~," the blue haro replied.

Hawthorne laughed. It wasn't like she'd need it - they weren't going to launch or anything. But it was a nice gift and she did suppose she'd need her own suit before too long. She'd probably get her own mobile suit...

"I'll be right back," Hawthorne declared as she traded tablet for flightsuit. As an afterthought, she turned on the music player app. They might as well have a soundtrack.

There was a locker room of sorts nearby and Hawthorne darted in to change. She was not at all surprised when the fit was perfect and the violet was dead-on to her hair. A lighter color might've worked better with her skin-tone, but then again, it matched the mobile suit.

Her other two companions had joined the group when she wandered back out.

"It's perfect," she declared as she grabbed for her tablet and Karma and then herded everybody onto the little lift to get up to the cockpit.

"We're just going to do a basic start-up and system check. No propulsion testing, no movement beyond wrists and manipulators, though if we do pass all the initial checks, we can see what some of those other, disabled systems can do?"

"Okay, let's do it! Let's do it!"

Hawthorne was first into the cockpit, followed by a rainbow of haros. Before she closed up, she could see others appearing in the hangar. Well, it'd be a boring show from the outside.

She shifted from music app to the checklist she'd made.

"Mobile Suit Justice-Type Pathfinder-Hybrid Startup Test One," she said firmly before grinning and laughing. "This better work!"

The main screens turned on and the OS booted without issue. It was simple to flip between read-outs and run system scans. Power seemed to be full and holding, though Hawthorne suspected some calibration would be in order for the levels to display properly. They had time to do that later, once the machine was ready for live tests outside the factory. For now, it just needed to stay stable.

Hawthorne enabled the exterior cameras and there was the hangar and plenty of curious haros and their one minder - Veia's shy younger brother, likely - who seemed to lurk about and try to hide his face as much as possible.

"So far so good," she commented as she checked off items one by one. "Let's try a little movement?"

There. It turned its wrists easily, moved its fingers, and the power gauge remained full. But she'd really have to get outside and fly around to do anything to put a dent in it, she was sure. Well, Hawthorne would have to have a proper pilot fly it. Veia, probably, or one of his identical twin younger brothers. Not her, she was not a pilot, even if it was really tempting.

Towards the bottom of her list were notes on some of the disabled systems buried in the OS. The original Justice mobile suit had been powered by a nuclear engine, so it didn't have to worry about its battery. This was just a test unit of some sort. It wasn't as lucky.

Hawthorne dove into the OS, typing quickly on the machine's keypad. She wasn't sure everything even had the programming to enable, but--

"Phase Shift, Phase Shift!" the pale red haro cried as a bunch of new screens appeared. Hawthorne flew through them and tried to take in all of it.

"No way," she said softly. Phase Shift? And it had been disabled because the machine's battery couldn't power it. Veia had fought through a war in this machine. Two, even? He'd saved her life in it. And it had been deprived of its best defense?

"Mobile Suit Justice-Type, Phase Shift engage!"

Hawthorne was fairly sure she felt the change in her soul. She carefully raised the mobile suit's arms up to where the head-mounted cameras could see them and gasped. Instead of the black she'd gotten used to, there was a sparkling cherry red.

She blinked a few times and flipped back to the power readouts. Still holding strong.

"I think we did it," she managed as she grabbed for Karma and pulled it into the best hug she could give it. "I think we did it!"

A moment later, she caught sight of Veia down on the deck-plating beside his brother.

This, she was fairly sure, was the first time she'd ever seen him smile.

That, she felt in her soul as well.


End file.
